‘What works best’ identifies brings together seven themes from the growing bank of evidence we have for what works to improve student educational outcomes
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.
What works best: Evidence-based practices to help improve NSW student performance
1. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation
What works best:
Evidence-based practices to help improve NSW student performance
2. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
‘What works best’ identifies brings together seven themes from
the growing bank of evidence we have for what works to improve
student educational outcomes
1. High expectations
2. Explicit teaching
3. Effective feedback
4. Use of data to
inform practice
5. Classroom
management
6. Wellbeing
7. Collaboration
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3. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
1. High expectations
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Higher student performance occurs where teachers set high expectations for the
classroom, and students’ work
4. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
2. Explicit teaching
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Students achieve significantly higher scores when their teachers challenge them
and are explicit about their expectations, and the criteria for success
5. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
3. Effective feedback
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Feedback is among the most powerful influences on achievement
6. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
4. Use of data to inform practice
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… a professional development
program for teachers that
focused on the interpretation
and use of assessment
information resulted in
student achievement gains
accelerating at twice the
expected rate.
“ X
”
7. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
5. Classroom management
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Performance in mathematics is higher where students report that their maths
teachers are able to manage their classroom effectively
8. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
6. Wellbeing
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• Student engagement is an important outcome itself, but it is also directly
related to academic performance.
• We know that engagement levels are different across gender and SES.
9. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
7. Collaboration
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Collaboration is key to sharing successful and innovative practice across the
profession. It should:
• explicitly aim to improve student outcomes
• take a whole-of-school focus
• incorporate experts who challenge entrenched beliefs
10. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
CESE literature reviews distil the best available evidence on
‘what works’ in education
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11. CENTRE FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND EVALUATION WWW.CESE.NSW.GOV.AU
Contact us:
http://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/
info@cese.nsw.gov.au
@nswcese
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Notas del editor
This chart looks at data from a NSW pilot survey of student engagement and wellbeing. It took place in 2013 and 2014 in over 220 government schools, and over 80 000 students gave their views.
Key points
• High expectations are linked with higher performance for all students.
• The reverse can also be true. Some students from disadvantaged backgrounds may be achieving less than their full potential due to lower expectations of their ability.
• All students need to be appropriately challenged in order to learn – but many NSW students say they aren’t being challenged enough.
• A culture of high expectations needs to be supported by effective mechanisms and strategies that support every student’s learning needs. Curriculum differentiation is an effective means by which this can occur in every classroom.
In a recent survey of NSW students, Year 5 students who agreed that they knew the purpose of what they were learning scored on average 28 NAPLAN score points higher than students who disagreed.
Key points
• Explicit teaching practices involve teachers clearly showing students what to do and how to do it, rather than having students discover or construct information for themselves.
• Explicit teaching recognises that learning is a cumulative and systematic process, starting with building strong foundations in core skills in literacy and numeracy.
• Effective teacher practices ensure that students have clear instruction on what is expected of them, and what they need to learn from tasks. It ensures that students are given time to engage with the learning process, ask questions and get clear feedback.
• Students who experience explicit teaching practices make greater learning gains than students who do not experience these practices.
This slide shows data from PISA 2009. It supports the view that feedback impacts student performance: Australian students whose teachers discussed students’ work after they had finished assignments in most or all classes performed better (526) than students whose teachers did so hardly ever or in some cases (505). The results are similar in relation to teachers marking students’ work.
Key points
• Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on student achievement.
• Feedback that focuses on improving tasks, processes and student self-regulation usually has a positive effect.
• Rewards, as well as some kinds of praise, tend to be ineffective or at times have a negative effect.
Study cited: Timperley, 2009: For all schools that focused on writing, the average effect size was 1.20; for reading, 0.92. Gains were found to be greatest for the lowest-performing 20 per cent of students: effect sizes were 2.25 in writing and 1.90 in reading for these students.
Key points
• Effective analysis of student data helps teachers identify areas in which students’ learning needs may require additional attention and development.
• Data can also help teachers see which students may be struggling to engage with particular learning areas, and understand which students respond better to different teaching approaches in their classroom.
• High-quality assessment practice is crucial for effective data analysis of student outcomes and wellbeing.
• Teachers need access to tools, skills and training to help them interpret and use this data effectively
Key points
• Effective classroom management is important for creating the conditions for learning.
• Data confirms a link between effective classroom management and student performance.
• Early career teachers are likely to benefit from explicit support in developing effective classroom management strategies.
Key points
• Internationally, as well as in NSW, there is an increasing focus on student wellbeing, in recognition that the school years contribute to the development of the whole child, which in turn drives academic outcomes.
• Evidence suggests that higher levels of wellbeing are linked to higher academic achievement, Year 12 completion, better mental health and a more pro-social and responsible lifestyle.
• Survey data from NSW reveals that students’ social engagement decreases in later years of school.
More on the link between engagement and performance:
Students need to be emotionally, behaviourally and intellectually engaged with school for the best outcomes.
Research over the last 30 years has increasingly shown that student engagement is not only an important outcome in itself, but it is also directly related to academic performance and future outcomes. For example, a 2009 American study of 78,106 students in 160 schools across eight states found that a one-percentage point increase in a student’s engagement was associated with a six-point increase in reading achievement and an eight-point increase in maths achievement scores.
Other studies of student engagement have shown that increased student engagement has a flow-on effect in regard to educational and occupational success many years into the future. For example, an Australian study that used data from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study and a school engagement index, found that each unit of school engagement was independently associated with a ten per cent higher chance of achieving a post-compulsory school education at some point during the next 20 years, including as a mature age student. This was true over and above the influence of family background and personality.
Teachers observing other teachers’ classrooms can take place as part of a structured professional learning approach, as happens in Shanghai ‘teaching and research groups’, or can take place in a more informal way.
According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), while NSW teachers report high levels of engagement with certain collaborative practices, fewer NSW teachers reported observing other teachers’ classes and providing feedback or teaching jointly at least once a month compared with Australia as a whole, and some other countries, such as Singapore
Key points:
• Great teachers don’t just ‘happen’; they are developed and keep on developing throughout their professional life.
• Effective collaboration is key to sharing successful and innovative teaching practices across the teaching profession.
• Not all collaboration is effective. Teachers need to engage in professionalised collaboration that explicitly aims to improve teacher practices and student outcomes.
• A whole-of-school focus is needed to develop a culture of excellence. School leaders need to support teachers’ professional learning, take a central role in collaborative networks and work to identify the strengths and weaknesses of teaching at their school.
